Want to know what really frosts Rusty Wallace's flakes? What grinds his grits? What makes his blue eyes turn icy while the rest of him does a slow burn? Dare to presume that Rusty's getting, well, rusty. Hint that he's too old to cut the racing mustard any more. Suggest that he's a stocker who's ready for a rocker.
Warning: If you should be so bold to attempt any of the above, be ready to duck for cover. You will definitely strike a nerve, and Wallace will respond like a grouchy grizzly with an abscessed molar.
"I haven't 'lost it' and it really bothers me when I hear people say that," says Wallace, 47, one of NASCAR's all-time greats. "It hurts, because it's just not true. I'm not a loser. Have I had a couple of bad years? Yes, definitely. Has it been frustrating? Hell yes-last year was the most frustrating season I've gone through in my entire racing career. But am I finished? Hell no. I know in my heart that I can still go out and get the job done. I can still be competitive and win races. If I didn't honestly believe that, I wouldn't still be out there bustin' my tail week after week.
"When I decide that I can't win, that I'm burned out, I guarantee that you'll know it 'cause you won't see me out there any more. But that time hasn't come yet. It's time to hit the reset button."
Despite Wallace's abiding belief that he still has what it takes to run in NASCAR's fast lane, the stats don't fib-and the tale they tell is not an optimistic one for the former Winston Cup champ. After 16 consecutive seasons with at least one victory, Wallace went winless in 2002, then came up empty again in 2003. The driver who captured the '89 championship and owns 54 wins (seventh-all-time and second only to Jeff Gordon's 63 among active drivers) has not won since April 2001.
"That's a very embarrassing number for me," Wallace says. "It's crappy."
More Golden OldiesWallace is not the only once-great racer who has fallen and can't get up. Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin, and Ken Schrader are all, like Wallace, in the flickering twilight of their careers.
NASCAR's senior citizens have one thing in common: They don't intend to go quietly. Racing's Geritol Generation insists that its get-up-and-go has not entirely gotten up and gone.
"The fire's not out yet," Wallace declares. "Not by any means."
Indeed, Jarrett, 47, and Labonte, 47, each managed a win last year. Jarrett's came in the second race of the season at Rockingham, but that early splash of success quickly evaporated into a long season of struggle and frustration. Labonte won at Darlington, snapping a 156-race losing skid that he termed "a losing streak from hell." Then The Iceman went cold.
Rudd, 47, Marlin, 46, and Martin, 45, all went winless last season. Going into the '04 season, Marlin had not visited Victory Circle in 60 starts, Rudd in 56. Martin won a race in 2002 and finished a close runner-up to Tony Stewart in that season's championship battle, but was unable to get back up to speed in 2003.
"That was possibly my last shot," Martin concedes, in reference to his title hopes.Understand, we're not talking about plow horses here; these drivers were once the thoroughbreds of the sport and will go down in history ranked among NASCAR's all-time greats. As noted, Wallace has accumulated 54 wins while Martin has 33, Jarrett 31, Rudd 23, and Labonte 22. Marlin has only 10 career victories, but two of those came in the Daytona 500, establishing him among the sport's elite.
But now they've hit a slump and Wallace doesn't attempt to sugar-coat the situation. He admits the road has quickly become rocky and rough.